TEC Detroit

In this slightly over 12 minute podcast (download iPod compatible, 65MB), Bob Holland and I discuss his early career and the five companies he has built. After graduating from his Ph.D. program at Virginia Tech in the 1970s, Bob was interested in creating a degree program where students would learn about system dynamics. His idea was to promote the field by training students who would arrive at their employers and ask for the tools required, namely computer equipment. He was able to sell Eastern Michigan University on this idea, and so he came to Michigan, founded the CIS Department at Eastern Michigan University, and stayed.

Once Bob got the program at Eastern Michigan underway, he decided he would prefer to get back to business and proceeded to found five new companies. What struck me in this part of the conversation was Bob's drive to move toward the cutting edge, found a company, and then sell, an attitude he confirmed at the end of the conversation.

As Bob notes toward the end of the discussion, he prefers a type of innovation where he is creating new markets, finding things that people will want but do not know it yet. This style is different from some other innovators we have spoken with, like Victor Naidu, who are attempting to figure out how to fill already existent, perceived gaps in the market place, or like Bill Michels who are attempting to figure out how to replace existing products in the market place.

In this 7 minute podcast (download iPod compatible, 35MB), we begin a multipart series in which Bob Holland describes his experiences mentoring innovation among groups of CEOs as Chairman of TEC Detroit. TEC is part of a multinational organization called Vistage which aims to build better leaders who can make tough decisions and produce results. Bob took on his leadership role after 38 years building and selling IT businesses.

Bob deals with a wide range in size of businesses, from $1.4 Million to 1.2 Billion in revenues. In spite of this difference, he notes that they face the same problems innovating. Innovations often come from the passion of an entrepreneur, and how you inspire that passion is similar across size of organization. Further, the innovations must fill a recognized gap in the market place.

In our next installment, we'll talk about one specific example of a company Bob is involved with, Powerpass, that appears to be filling that gap.